Funeral Arrangements For Cardinal Edward Egan Announced
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Funeral arrangements were announced Friday for Cardinal Edward Egan, who is being remembered as a man of faith who loved New York.
On Monday, Cardinal Egan's body will be received by his family and Cardinal Timothy Dolan at St. Patrick's Cathedral at the Fifth Avenue entrance which will be followed by a private visitation for the family until noon.
There will be a public visitation at St. Patrick's from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. A vigil Mass will be held at 6 p.m.
Visitation continues after Mass until 9 p.m.
On Tuesday, there will be a public visitation at St. Patrick's Cathedral from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Cardinal Dolan will offer the Funeral Mass and will deliver the homily beginning with a procession at 1:30 p.m., followed by the Mass at 2 p.m.
Egan went into cardiac arrest Thursday while having lunch at his residence. He was rushed to NYU Langone Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:20 p.m. Egan was 82.
"He's special for New York," one man outside St. Patrick's Cathedral told CBS2's Cindy Hsu on Friday. "We will remember him for his work and his leadership in the church."
"I came today to just give thanks for this wonderful Archbishop that we had who led us through turbulent times," Olga Nikiciuk said.
Egan was soft spoken and had a formal manner, but he knew how to connect.
"He loved this city, he loved his priests and his sisters and the parishes and especially the people," current New York archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan said.
On Friday, Pope Francis sent a telegram to Dolan saying in part, "...having learned with sadness of the death of Cardinal Edward M. Egan, Archbishop Emeritus of New York, I offer heartfelt condolences to you and to the faithful of the Archdiocese."
Egan was born in suburban Chicago and served as archbishop of New York for nine years, bringing comfort to the city after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"Fear is not part of our experience today," Egan said after the attacks.
He had to make tough choices as the church faced difficult financial times, closing schools and churches with dwindling attendance. Then came Pope Benedict's visit to New York in 2008. The following year, Egan was succeeded by Dolan, but made it clear he planned for an active retirement.
Church officials said Egan will be buried under the main altar at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Dolan remembers joking with Egan about what would happen when they passed.
"We went down, and I teased him about this forever. He said, 'you see that spot, that's mine. You see those two spots? Those are yours,'" Dolan said.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Inner-City Scholarship Fund or The Restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
